John C. McBride, 66, Boston, Massachusetts, who was disbarred in 2007 after practicing law for more than three decades, was sentenced to federal prison for tax and bank fraud violations. His crimes arose in connection with recording fraudulent tax and bank releases on his seaside Marblehead, Massachusetts home and his vacation home in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard. Both properties were later foreclosed on.
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Benny Chetcuti, Jr., 60, Walnut Creek. California, was sentenced to 51 months in prison, and ordered to pay $21,823,526.10 in restitution, as well as forfeit $3,968,995 in proceeds obtained from a multi-year real estate investment fraud scheme. Continue Reading…
Xue Heu, 38, Modesto, California, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in connection with a fraudulent real estate investment scheme wherein he gave investors fraudulent documents, such as grant deeds, HUD-1 settlement statements, and portfolio listings of properties he claimed he intended to purchase, including properties that had already been sold and were no longer available to purchase.
Linda Sue Newcomb, 63, Madison Heights, Virginia, who was the former manager of the Lynrocten Federal Credit Union, pled guilty in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia to embezzlement, bank fraud and identity theft charges for her role in originating loans in the names of credit union members without those members’ knowledge or consent, including forging the member’s name to fictitious loan documents. Continue Reading…
Rachel Siders, 39, Roseville, California, was convicted by a federal jury and found guilty of bank fraud, making a false loan application, and committing aggravated identity theft. Continue Reading…
Danny Zhao, 36, Ashburn, Virginia, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud admitting his role in a short sale mortgage fraud scheme.
Leonard E. Williams, 52, Sacramento, California, was sentenced to over seven years in prison for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb stated that one factor he used in imposing the sentence was Williams’ outburst in front of the jury during trial.
Thomas Franklin Tarbutton, Orange County, California, an alleged hard money lender, has been charged with running a real estate ponzi scheme, embezzling funds from investors by keeping the money they lent for borrowers and not funding the loans as promised.
Steve Weinstock, Roslyn Heights, New York, an attorney, has been arrested for allegedly stealing $720,000 held in an escrow account, as well as selling an East Hills, New York, property owned in the name of his law firm and pocketing over $700,000 in proceeds.
Melanie Ferreira, 62, Lagrangeville, New York, was sentenced to 51 months in prison following her conviction for engaging in a series of frauds, which included cheating the Internal Revenue Service out of nearly half a million dollars, and perpetrating a bank fraud scheme wherein she caused a forged cashier’s check to pay off her mortgage.